These races are plugins: they are downloaded independently, and installation overwrites no files. They function standalone with vanilla dwarf fortress, just drop it into your /raws folder. They can be used together for added challenge. These races are designed to provide more 'evil' civs to siege players, but are also carefully balanced so as not to be overpowered or thematically questionable: they are intended to add civs that diverge from the vision of the original game as little as possible.They are not intended to be player fortress races.Compatible with 0.34 and above.

A Standalone plugin that adds one new civilization - Orcs - based upon an updated version of the the Orc difficulty mod for 40d. The physical properties of Orcs have changed somewhat, and they have been balanced more in line with existing creatures.Compatible with 0.34 and above.

So these Orcs...

Orc attributes are drawn primarily from Warhammer:

They stand slightly shorter but much broader than humans.

They are muscular, tough and quick to heal, but clumsy, stupid and slow.

They have stubby little horns & claws, very thick skulls and small brains.

their hearts are proportionally much larger than those of other humanoids (awww!)

They have terrible tempers and frequently become enraged in battle.

approximately 10% of the population are born as Black Orcs, a bigger, stronger leadership caste.

Black Orcs can enter Martial Trances.

Orcs learn martial skills at 125% speed of other races.

Orcs are fearless in battle, and do not retreat.

They have their own language and their own character graphics.

Orcs attack forts earlier than goblins do.

Orcs live in human style cities (for now), but do not build roads.

Orcs have an interesting selection of Nobles, many of which are eligible to lead armies.

Orcs now have skin 25% thicker than other humanoids, and have 50% more muscle mass.

1 in 5 orcs has the ability to destroy buildings & doors

In practice, Orcs function like more proffesional Goblins. They are larger than dwarves and very broad and muscular, swinging bigger weapons and resisting damage better. They possess higher pain thresholds and thick skulls. They come well equipped in iron gear, with full armor and equipment improvements on their leaders. They are considerably more resistant to traps than goblins. They turn up slightly earlier. They send thieves, but not snatchers.

Worldgen is not kind to them, and they usually only have a few secluded civilisations, but starting near one in fort mode can be unexpectedly Fun!

I take no credit for the original Orc raws, the Orc language or the concept - this is just intended as an update for people who liked the original mod and are seeking an added challenge rather than a total conversion.

A Standalone plugin that adds one new civilization - Beastmen - based upon a heavily modified version of the Warhammer mod Beastmen.Compatible with 0.34 and above.

So Beastmen...

Beastmen attributes are drawn primarily from Warhammer:

They usually stand as tall as humans but vary greatly in height, with the tallest reaching almost 9ft.

Beastmen are very tough! They have an abnormally thick animal hide lined with fur, as well as thick insulating body-fat and bulging muscles.

This partially compensates for their otherwise barbaric armor: loincloths, wooden breastplates and caps. They use large wooden tower shields to protect them from ranged attacks.

They have the curling horns and hooved feet of a ram, with very thick skulls and small brains.

They have very few pain receptors in their skin or bones compared to other humanoids

They have terrible tempers and frequently become enraged in battle.

Beastmen have considerable natural fighting skills, easily able to wrestle and gore dwarves into submission.

Beastmen saliva carries a pathogen comparable to rabies, which transferred via bite, has a number of minor symptoms and a 10% chance of sending the victim into a crazed state for a period.

Beastmen learn martial skills at 125% speed of other races.

Beastmen speak unintelligible gibberish.

Beastmen attack forts very early, but do not send thieves or snatchers, nor do they use ranged weaponry.

Beastmen live in human style cities (for now), but do not build roads.

Beastmen have an interesting selection of Nobles, many of which can train exotic beasts.

Beastmen now have skin 50% thicker than other humanoids, as well as 50% more muscle mass and 50% more body fat.

1 in 5 Beastmen have the ability to destroy buildings & doors.

Now with character graphics!

In practice, Beastmen are a looming threat in the early game, arriving unseasonably early and without telegraphing their approach via thieves. To embark near Beastmen is to make sure you have a militia or defenses - layered defenses, since Beastmen can break through doors eventually - by the end of the first year. They are little more than unarmored barbarians, and represent little threat to properly armored and trained military of comparable numbers, but their intrinsic toughness and strength makes them a serious threat to a fortress without an established military - and as their numbers grow, their sheer resilience allows them to penetrate traps and survive crossbow bolts much more credibly than goblins.

Worldgen is not kind to them, and they usually only have a few secluded civilisations, but starting near one in fort mode can be unexpectedly Fun!

A Standalone plugin that adds one new civilization - Ratmen - based upon a heavily modified version of the Warhammer mod Skaven.Original character graphics by me, feel free to appropriate and use.Compatible with 0.34 and above.

So Ratmen...

Ratmen attributes are drawn from a mix of Ratmen fable, Warhammer Skaven and Kobolds.

They stand slightly shorter than dwarves, but have a prehensile tail that functions like a third grasping limb.

Ratmen are very quick, and run about 40% faster than an unarmored dwarf.

Ratmen donít wear any significant armour except for caps. They compensate with underhand tactics and a much higher speed, which gives them the initiative in a fight.

Ratmen are skulking cavern dwellers. They can be found in small groups in the caverns, but they will also send sneaking thieves and later, ambushes from the caverns.

This makes them very good at infiltrating forts from unexpected angles, and then wreaking havoc and stealing artefacts. Ratmen are [mischievous], so donít go putting that doomsday lever anywhere too accessible.

Ratmen are very agile, avoid traps, pick locked doors and are very proficient at dodging attacks.

Ratmen saliva is full of germs and often causes necrosis to spread from Ratmen bite wounds.

Ratmen are adept swimmers and fairly difficult to drown.

Ratmen are very proficient thieves and learn knife use at 150% the speed of other races.

Ratmen skulk in a similar fashion to kobolds, so their ambushes are relative to how much they manage to steal. They can only access forts via the caverns.

Now with original character graphics!

In practice, Ratmen are a huge annoyance when breaching the caverns for the first time. Stumbling upon a group of them in the caverns can be very dangerous. Their thieves will enter your fortress via cavern entrances and wreak havoc, and are very skilled compared to their kobold equivalents. Ratmen ambushes are dangerous, but Ratmen are individually poor warriors and rely upon speed and stealth to be effective.

The greatest threat posed by Ratmen is their thieves tweaking leavers and opening doors and frightening civilians, potentially letting in another siege or disrupting your fortress at critical moments.

A Standalone plugin that adds one new civilization - Gnolls - based upon the D&D 3rd edition Gnoll.Original character graphics by me, feel free to appropriate and use.Compatible with 0.34 and above.

So Gnolls...

Gnoll attributes are drawn from D&D.

They stand slightly taller than humans, but have animal paws rather than feet, as well as a tail, protruding carnivore teeth and shaggy fur.

Gnolls have a high natural bite skill, which along with their large teeth, makes them very capable unarmed fighters.

Gnolls wear scalemail armor on their body and legs, but no gloves, no boots and most critically, no helms.

However, Gnolls are ambushers and will creep around the map in a similar fashion to goblins.

Gnoll blood carries a powerful stench that sickens and disorientates other humanoids. This makes engaging large groups of Gnolls in melee combat dangerous.

1 in 8 Gnolls can destroy buildings.

Gnolls favour the Falcata, a crude, thick bladed sword that is used for hacking.

Gnolls are fairly agile and apt at dodging.

Gnolls send theives.

Gnolls use bows.

Gnolls begin attacking very early, much earlier than goblins. This makes starting a new fort in Gnoll territory quite challenging.

Now with original character graphics!

In practice, Gnolls make the early years of a fort quite stressful. They arrive early, as ambushers. Their good combat skills and reeking blood make them effective melee opponents, and their bowmen are quite proficient at putting holes in your dwarves. They are poorly armoured, and less dangerous than goblins in a straight fight as a result, but they are much better at quickly savaging dwarves and escaping. Some Gnolls are strong enough to break down doors and floodgates, which makes these insufficient protection for a fledgling fort.

hey curious have you seen the Warhammer fantasy mod? I asked the group and dont know for sure yet, but would it be ok to port this over to the mod? If not thx anyways, and i have to say nice to see some warhammer Waaaagh orks around.

I should point out that these Orcs were designed as fort & adventure mode opponents, not as a playable race... that would be too much like easy-mode . If you are looking to play as races other than dorfs, investigate the warhammer mod!

If you're playing as Orcs, every other civ will be at war with you. Really it should be the other way around, with Orcs being the agressors, but Dwarf Fortress Ethics are pretty hard to set. Usually you get one big baddy, and the rest of the civs go to war with them/their kind.

You won't be able to do much with nobles, since the whole thing isn't designed to be able to do that. Actually there are quite a few bugs in the creature file and the entity file, if you check your errorlog.txt file.

So, decent work, but it needs more polish. Also, most of the extra weapons, armor, shields, and the like included in this mod are just copies from Civ Forge, and do not need to be included at all.

If you're playing as Orcs, every other civ will be at war with you. Really it should be the other way around, with Orcs being the agressors, but Dwarf Fortress Ethics are pretty hard to set. Usually you get one big baddy, and the rest of the civs go to war with them/their kind.

You won't be able to do much with nobles, since the whole thing isn't designed to be able to do that. Actually there are quite a few bugs in the creature file and the entity file, if you check your errorlog.txt file.

So, decent work, but it needs more polish. Also, most of the extra weapons, armor, shields, and the like included in this mod are just copies from Civ Forge, and do not need to be included at all.

Some may not be using Civ Forge so these weapons should still stay, as long as credit is given if he used them.

Overall good work. We can always use more stuff to test our defenses on, with increased toughness and muscle these could be nasty indeed.

If someone wants to modify the nobles etc in a way that make Orcs into a playable race, I would be happy to include that in an update. I just wanted more challenging seiges, so little design work went into that area

But why should the weapons that are not being used stay in this mod? The way it's set up, Orcs will not use them. They do not come invading your territory with them. They are outdated and bugged, (Shields with [ATTACK] and [SIZE] tokens, for example). The only way these weapons and armor will appear in a game which does not use Civ Forge is through wild moods, which currently only Dwarves can get. If, on the other hand, other civilizations DO have the flags to use these weapons, then the user is already using Civ Forge and does not need the weapons.

So you can see there is NO need for these extra item types.

Also, the reactions given to the Orcs are not extant in the files. No orc weapon building reactions have been added here, and yet their raws specify that they exist. Not only would this lead to problems if they were an embarkable race, the broken reaction tokens serve no purpose at all without the actual reactions, themselves.